Early calls about the French election bowing to a far-right ascendancy under the leadership of Marine Le Pen — and delivering the French legislature to her National Rally Party — turned out to be wrong as a left-wing surge in the voting pushed Le Pen’s party to third place in the results.
But the left-wing surge didn’t happen before the shocking vision of Le Pen’s party potentially running France had sent shivers through a global community with already deep concerns about the rise of authoritarian leadership around the world.
The knocking back of the far-right threat in France followed on the heels of a UK election that tossed out the incumbent conservatives for the center-left Labour party and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The two victories, in such close proximity, accomplished through voting coalitions that in effect rejected right-wing agendas and, in France’s case, extremist agendas, are being portrayed by some as a referendum on the right-wing’s future in developed democratic nations.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has pushed back against Donald Trump since he first took over as the GOP standard-bearer, celebrated the citizens of France and Britain for rejecting the far right, seeing these votes as a model for Americans who wish to sustain an anti-authoritarian government “at home.”
“First in the UK, now in France, the people are choosing democracy and rejecting the far right,” Clinton writes. “Let’s keep this going at home!”
First in the UK, now in France, the people are choosing democracy and rejecting the far right.
Let’s keep this going at home! https://t.co/F1xiS52mJR pic.twitter.com/kf2p13K8Kg
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 8, 2024
While the British conservatives didn’t commonly align with the more extreme far-right, Le Pen made no secret that her comrades in policy were Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, as seen below.
BREAKING
A center-left coalition that came together ahead of France’s snap legislative elections has won the most parliamentary seats in the vote, beating Marine Le Pen’s far-right “National Rally” party into third place.
Vive la France! pic.twitter.com/BFVWVe8YgX
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) July 7, 2024